The Sound of Silence
by LeiaPrincess21
Summary: Yet another post ROTG fic, but with a twist. Very angsty and long, but worth it. The chapters are all inspired by lyrics in the Simon and Garfuncle song The Sound of Silence Def. R&R ON HOLD INDEFINITELY
1. Hellow Darkness my Old Friend

**A/N: I haven't written a story in an amazingly long time so please forgive me if it starts out rocky. The summary stands as basically some unseen problems immediately after RotG. Oh, and I promise tons of plot…but tons of fluff too.**

Soft grey curls clung to the chest of the tall man, as Daine slowly tried to move away from him. The task was not difficult because of her feelings for him; she kept those hidden for over a year. No, it was difficult because of the sheer fatigue that had laid itself inside her body. Numair seemed to be having the same difficulties. Onua was nearing, so Daine began attempting to mount her grey mountain pony. It seemed that unlike Daine, Cloud was full of energy and life. _How can you be so happy and frisky right now?_ Daine asked her pony. _Because, _Cloud replied, _I didn't just kill a mage and then turn around and face the great gods themselves._ Daine laughed, she had never told her pony what exactly had happened, but she was so exhausted that she had forgotten to protect her mind. Put short, every animal within her range knew every thought and memory in her mind from the last thirty minutes.

As she laughed, the weary horse mistress who had brought her to the beauty of Tortall walked up and looked to her two friends.

"I see you've found your dear, dimwitted, teacher Daine" She began. Numair scoffed and pushed himself off the tree.

"You may call me dimwitted, but I just destroyed the mage who threatened to destroy the castle. Actually I think thanks are in order" He said with an overly pompous air that caused all three to laugh.

"Well the good news is, Numair, I brought you a horse to ride back to the castle you just saved."

"Thanks Onua, I don't believe I could walk that far. So where is the hors—Oh Mithros! That is no horse! That's a BEAST!" Numair had just caught sight of the war horse Onua had brought him. It stood with its shoulder even to his head. Snorting the horse nosed the great mage, causing him to fall over. Onua just laughed and started to ride off. Kitten and the massive basilisk, who had been silent until now as they were receiving the wandering brain waves of Daine, now turned and followed Onua's tracks. Daine looked at her love, who was struggling to get up off the ground, and told his mount to help him. The beast was rather dumb, but complied by biting Numair's shirt and hoisting him to his feet.

The ride back was lazy and quiet. Daine slumped over Cloud's neck and fell asleep. Numair slept sitting up on his mount. Onua seemed to be deep in thought. She had not actually seen anything happen between her two tired friends, but something was there. Something she had never seen before. Perhaps the change occurred while they were away. Rumors were circling that they had stayed in the divine realms. It seemed plausible as there were massive dragons fighting with them, but those could have been brought by Kitten just as easily as if Daine and Numair had traveled to the divine realms. She could find out when they woke up, she had a feeling that they would be out for weeks.

When they reached the healer's tents, Onua had to go and fetch some men to get Daine and Numair off their horses and into beds. She purposefully made sure they had a room together. Even before the change they preferred to be together. She closed the door to the small room they were to stay in. Once the door was shut, something happened. Normally when a mage is healing after massive exertion, magic flows into their bodies. Mages that poses mass amounts of power, such as Daine and Numair, can sometimes have so much magic flowing into them; people can see the magic in the room. This could be seen now. Black and copper rivulets of power swirled about the room. The only problem was, it was flowing out of the two mage's bodies.

**A/N: I'm mean, I know. You have to review though. It may only be a short chapter but still...please, please, please review! It will make me more prone to update evil grin**


	2. The Sounds of Silence

**A/N: Soooo, by popular demand I am updating sooner than usual. See, the reviews really do work.**

The soft sun peeked its eyes into the window of the sleeping mages. Its penetrating rays poking through the soft line that was the meeting of Daine's eyelids. She slowly sat up and slid the blankets off of her body. Smiling she noted how quiet the room was. It was actually the least amount of noise she had heard in a long time. Turing and seeing a still sleeping Numair, she crept out of the room. As she walked down the hall towards Alanna's rooms, she noted how her clothes had been changed. The ones she wore were clean and free from animal hair. As she reached her hand up to knock, she screamed with realization. She could no longer hear the animals.

Alanna wrenched the door open as Daine fell to the floor crying.

"Daine, what's wrong!" The older woman yelled, falling to the ground next to Daine.

"They're all gone!" Daine wailed.

"Who's gone, what happened?"

"The animals, I can't hear them. I have to magic. I feel so alone." Alanna pulled the wildmage close to her and hugged her tight. This was new to her. A mage losing their power, it was truly unheard of. As she pondered a very red dragonet raced down the hall towards Daine. Kitten threw herself into Daine's lap and began to trill softly in an attempt to calm her caretaker. After a few minutes, Daine simply stood up, thanked Alanna, and left. Worried, Alanna went back into her rooms to try to find the cause of Daine's power loss.

Daine went into her rooms where Numair still slept. Alanna must have put them there. They were closer to the door than Numair's so it was the logical choice. Closing the door, she sat on the floor next to Numair's bed. As soon as she was sitting she wept. For hours she only sat there and let her pain flow out. At first she tried to be quiet, but soon she was making quite the ruckus. With a groan, Numair opened his eyes to find a distressed woman at his bedside. Panicking he rolled out of bed and pulled her to him.

"Magelet, what's wrong?" He asked quickly.

"I have to magic." Was her moist reply. Numair could not believe what he had just heard.

"What do you mean sweet?"

"When I woke up, I couldn't hear the animals any more. It's just gone, as if it never existed." Numair kissed her head and cried with her. To loose one's magic would be devastating. Rocking back and forth he sang her the lullaby that his mother had sung to him as a child. Soon she had fallen back asleep. Careful, so as not to wake her, Numair carried Daine to the door so that he might take her to his rooms. Reaching out with magic he tried to push the door open, only it didn't move. He tried again to no avail. Panicking, he manually opened the door and rushed to his rooms. His door opened by hand, the spell he had placed on it to keep intruders out was gone. He laid Daine on his bed and sprinted out of his rooms. He turned the corner and ran straight into a fretting redhead. Alanna half smiled at him.

"I'm glad you're up." She mumbled.

"My magic is gone too." Numair said quickly.

"What? And Daine, is she still…"

"Yes, she is asleep in my chambers. I moved her to my bed so that I could keep an eye on her as I try to figure out what has happened." Alanna noted that never before had Numair ever put Daine into his own bed. Even in the direst of circumstances he would carry her to his room.

"Numair, I need you to tell me exactly what happened while you and Daine were away, maybe there is something there." Numair complied and told her every detail of their stay in the Divine Realms. Not knowing how to address the events immediately following the spideren attack, he passed over them. When he finished Alanna nodded, but was not satisfied.

"Did anything happen between you and Daine? It has nothing to do with your current circumstances, but I just…"

"I understand. And yes something did happen. After the spiderens, I was so scared that I had lost her, when she walked up to me I kissed her. What surprised me was that she kissed back."

"So you two are now…per say…a couple?"

"Well, yes I guess so." Numair blushed at the idea.

"Don't worry, I'll only tell our friends." Numair smiled and began to walk off as he did he called over his shoulder,

"Can you tell Jon about the magic thing? I'll need all the help I can get." Not waiting for a reply he turned the corner and went back into his rooms. After checking on Daine he closed himself in his study and began the work of figuring out what had happened. Book after book, scroll after scroll, he came up with nothing. He was felling ready to cry when a small hand came to rest on his shoulder. Turning, he saw the face of his one true love. He started to speak but Daine only covered his mouth with her hand and shook her head no. He understood, words meant nothing now. They had been apart for weeks only to have a few moments before weariness overtook them. This was a time for them now.

Daine moved her hand and swiftly replaced it with her own mouth. Timidly kissing, as if it were the first time, Numair stood and took her into his arms. She buried her hands in his hair and pulled his head down closer. The time for timid kisses was over now. They kissed deeper and deeper, remembering their passion and forgetting their woes. Numair's hands moved from Daine's back and to her face. She was pulling him towards his bed chamber. He began to ask if she was sure, but she answered the thought itself by kissing him again, letting all the fear and pain she had experienced in the last day seep out of her body. Laughing he grabbed her from the belt and physically drug her towards the door. He smiled with pure joy as Daine covered her mouth with her hands in an attempt to suppress her laughter. With that the door closed. Many couples on their first intimate experience could shatter glass with their shrieks. Daine and Numair had no need for vocal proclamations of love and pleasure. Both felt it and knew the other did too. The bedchamber was silent that night.

As the soft rays of sun pried Numair's eyelids open, he looked down to the sleeping Diane who had foregone a pillow and just used him instead. She was looking straight into his eyes and smiling. She started to tell him how much she loved him, but he kissed her before she could, telling her he felt the same. Both mages then dressed and left the rooms, it seemed that Diane had somehow known that Numair told Alanna about them. They walked hand in hand to the hall where their friends ate. All heads turned towards them and shared a simultaneous nod of recognition. Upon taking a seat and beginning to eat the silence of the morning for the couple was broken by a tired looking redhead.

"Did you find any leads?" Alanna asked.

"No, not a one. If we only knew more…" The mage trailed off. Alanna nervously cleared her throat.

"So, how was the rest of your night?" She was curious, so Diane took over.

"Silent" She simply stated

"Silent? You people make no sense to me. All I want to know is did you wake up in his bed or not?"

"Considering I didn't sleep, I never woke." Alanna could tell Daine was hiding something.

"I knew it. You dirty slut." Alanna jeered. Daine blushed and all of the girls at the table quickly moved Numair out of the way and crowded around her asking far too personal questions. The men just rolled their eyes and went back to eating, attempting to ignore the infernal giggling. It seemed that the dear queen had the loudest laugh of them all. That said, they kept quiet and let the girls talk all they wanted.

As the friends sat and talked, they forgot about the problems they had. In both silence and noise, they blocked out the shrieks of their pain. They were able to, for a short while, enjoy themselves. All of them had learned the hard way to always expect things to get worse. Whether they would or not now, was uncertain. All that was certain was that off in the Gallan Mountains in the village of Snowsdale, two pools formed on the ground. One was a bright and brilliant copper, the other pure black and lined with silver flecks. No soul saw the formation of the pools. Even the animals fled them as they were able to sense the immense power emanating from them. Power that any soul could collect at any time. Suddenly a dark hand slipped in between the pools, spilling them together, and lifting them at the same time. But no one saw it, so how can one be sure what really happened. None but the hand knows.

**A/N: Yay! I love being mean! Oh and now my responses…REVIEW**

**Lucid Dreams: **Thanks I'm glad you like it. Hope you like the new chap.

**Dolphin Dreamer: **How is this on length? Still a bit too short?

**Drop your Oboe: **She killed Orzone, and by grey I meant like smoky kinda…it was a bad description I admit it. She isn't gray though. And yes, they lost their magic. I know it hurts but deal with it, I never write sad endings if that makes you feel better.

**Arianna99: **Grins I know, but you know you like it.

**The Tigress:** Ah, but the cliffie of the first chap makes for more return readers.

**Goldeneyedwildmage: **It will turn out good in the end…maybe…hah im so evil.

**NealsChick: **Oooh I totally am digging the tense music. And I will update soon again cause this is another major cliffie.

**Thanks to all…if you review I promise to reply…you can be famous too…all you have to do is review…I love you all!**


	3. Because a Vision Softly Creeping

**A/N: Hey so sorry about the delay between chapters. You know how it goes, too busy to think let alone write again. Oh fyi ALANNA WAS JOKING WITH Daine! She wasn't serious about the slut thing. Take any conversations among friends with a grain of salt, they are often joking. Sorry about all the typos in the last two chapters I kinda suck at editing. Let me know if there are any egregious ones, but try to intuit the ones I miss. Enjoy chapter three!**

After a leisurely and all together enjoyable breakfast with friends, Daine went to go and see Cloud saying that even if she couldn't hear her it would be nice to see her. Numair left to go attack the library in hopes of finding something that might help them get their magic back. Once the door had closed behind the two Alanna turned her violet eyes to Thayet and half smiled.

"It's so sad that when they should be happiest, a budding relationship and all, they are facing the hardest thing for any mage to deal with." The knight sighed.

"I know. I used to think that when Daine finally found someone the three of us and her could have a weekend of just girls to celebrate, but now I don't really think she feels like celebrating." Thayet added and Onua nodded her agreement saying,

"I remember when the only person she knew was me and she thought you two were too high and mighty to even consider befriending her. Now you are two of her closest friends." Onua's statement made Alanna think of something.

"Onua, go to her. She knows you best, just talk to her, it might help." Onua didn't respond but just stood up and left. While she did the others in the room began to go their separate ways. They were all either going to research sudden magic loss or going to speak to the healers that tended them while they were recuperating.

Onua found Daine sitting in Cloud's stall crying. The pony was lying next to her, providing a mane to wipe tears with. Onua was overcome with sadness for her dear friend. She went to her and pulled her into an embrace which Daine welcomed.

"She can't hear me." Daine whispered

"I know. None of them can. Every animal within a ten mile radius of the castle is on edge. They miss you." The housemistress said softly, stroking her young assistant's hair. Daine mumbled something that sounded like 'I miss them too' and buried her head in the K'mir's clothes. After a few minutes Daine sat up suddenly.

"I need to ride." She said shortly. With that she opened the stall door and jumped onto Cloud's back. At first Onua worried that she had left with no tack and no way to communicate with Cloud, but she realized that Daine didn't care where they went, she just needed to be away. Silently she began to do the daily chores around the stable.

When Alanna entered the library she found Numair in a similar state. He was grey faced and silently weeping. When Alanna touched his shoulder he turned and buried his face in her stomach. She stroked the hair of her best friend and cried with him.

"I cannot begin to imagine how empty you must feel." The redhead said softly.

"It feels like I'm in a vacume. Like there is nothing but emptiness on all sides. I want to die, but I want the pain to end so I can finally be able to be happy with Daine." He paused and looked up at Alanna "Help." She hugged him tighter and promised in every way possible that she would do all she could. She left him and immersed herself in books. Numair toyed with the opal that hung around his neck and continued to read. Looking up he saw her staring at him.

"I've already tried it." He announced "The opal is drained too." She shrugged and went back to reading. Considering the number of books and scrolls that needed to be looked through it was best that she keep focused.

Daine slid off of Cloud's back when the pony finally stopped. She was so tired from crying that her knees buckled when she hit the ground. Falling, she cried out at the sharp stab she felt on her chest. Grabbing her shirt she felt the large badger claw that hung around her neck. Holding it she cried out, "Badger, can you hear me? Badger I need you!" Looking around she hoped to see the god appearing, but saw nothing. Maybe he can't hear me either, she thought. As she began to turn her back to the clearing she stood in she hear a deep voice.

"_I suppose I have to use more direct mind speaking now that your power is gone." _She turned and fell to her knees in front of the stocky god.

"Oh, I'm so glad you came. I need help. Please badger, help me."

"_How kit? Speaking of which where has that dragon of yours gotten off to?"_

"She is with Tkaa speaking to the immortals that are still here, they hope to prevent any future troubles with them."

"_Good. Now, is there anything I can do for you , or did you just call me for fun?"_

"I have no magic! You can help me! I want to go home, I want my mom. Oh, badger please do something."

"_Well I can't help with the mother thing, but I can tell you this: to find your magic, look to the source of your pain. There you will have to face all your fears. Should you prevail, your magic will return. Now I must go, good luck." _With that he left, leaving Daine even more confused than ever. Then the distant howl of wolves caused a spark to flare in her brain. Jumping onto Cloud's back she held on tight as the mare raced back to the castle, sensing her urgency.

Daine burst into the library, out of breath, and smiling. Numair looked at her and jumped up out of his chair.

"Where is everyone else?" She asked breathlessly.

"Alanna just left, and everyone else is out and about, researching." He looked at her smile and knew something had happened. "Magelet, what's wrong, what happened?"

"Nothing is wrong at all. I spoke to the badger; I know where our magic is." Numair stared at her silently for a moment, and stepped forward, sweeping her into his arms. He pulled her into a tender but urgent kiss, opening her mouth to deepen it. With a moan he sat back down into his chair, never once letting her lips leave his. She sat in his lap and pulled his head to her, the passion and joy more than she could handle. Right when she thought she would either burst or pull Numair to the floor right then and there, the door opened. It revealed a startled Alanna and Jon.

Giggling Alanna began to close the door. Numair jumped up, still holding Daine and moved towards the door, yelling,

"Alanna don't! Daine knows where it is, she knows where out magic is!" Alanna stare, shocked, then propelled herself at the tall man. Soon he was holding both Daine and Alanna in his arms. Alanna was hugging the both of them and erupting a stream of questions. After a shushing by Jon she hopped back down to the floor and led the two out of the room. After Daine was on the ground again she told the group she would only announce it when everyone was together.

After Alanna raced around the castle, rounding up their friends, they sat in Jon's study awaiting Daine's announcement. She cleared her throat and began, "I saw the badger during my ride. He told me 'L_ook to the source of your pain. There you will have to face all your fears. Should you prevail, your magic will return.'_ And I figured this could only mean one thing--"

"Carthak?" Numair asked.

"No, the Divine Realms maybe?" Onua asked.

"She enjoyed that trip remember." Alanna chimed in, making Numair blush. The entire group began discussing the riddle. Daine soon became annoyed and put the yell she had acquired while working with the riders to good use.

"SNOWSDALE!" she bellowed. "And I believe Numair's is there too. You forget my greatest pain lies in the past, even the hard times here are happier than my life between my mother's death and joining Onua." They all sat quietly and stared at her

"Then we must leave, and soon." Numair said softly.

**A/N: Ok so there is a tad more fluff with more on the way, I have to get a bit of a plot established before I can get all mushy. The next chap. Will be up much sooner than this one! Oh and REVIEW!**

**Mistywabbit: thanks, and I hope I cleared the slut issue up a bit for you. And yes I plan to stick to simon and garfuncle. **

**StAnDiNgControposto: I know how tall that is, that was my point, the horse it friken huge. Actually I've seen bigger horses so its not unreasonably tall. And I think that even the genius of Numair needs to me made fun of sometimes, even though he is REALLY smart.**

**Dolphindreamer: sorry about the typos, I edited this chap a little better. Hope you like.**

**lucid.dreams: yeah I caught that, I had to beat spell-check into submission**

**NealsChick: sorry for the delay, but yeah Alanna is much more "loose"**

**Thanks to those who reviewed. I love you all. Keep it up and ill promise to get the next chap up sooner.**


	4. And in the Naked Light I Saw

**A/N: throws self at mercy of reviewers FORGIVE ME! I have taken sooooooooo long updating. Feel free to flog me! OK more story now**

As soon as Numair finished speaking to Daine about what the badger had said, he turned to the king and began to make preparations for their departure with him. Once the attention was off of her, Daine slipped out of the room and headed for the bath houses. Even though she loved the feeling of flying, the thought of going up to a tower without the ability to shape shift frightened her, and being with the horses made her feel sad. She decided that since she had only tried a fish form once, that bathing would not bring back to many painful memories.

She slid off all of her clothes and slipped into the steaming hot water. She submerged and sat on the bottom of the communal bath. No one else was there so there was no one to explain her naturally large lung capacity to as she sat on the bottom for the whole of five minutes before breaking surface again. She had come here to think, and the time at the bottom had given her the opportunity to do just that. She quickly redressed and ran to her chambers. Locking the door behind her she began to throw clothes into her travel sack. She grabbed her bedroll and bow as she flung open the window. The beauty of having rooms directly above the stables was that she could jump down onto the roof of the stable and from there to the ground. Saddling and bridling Cloud, she tied her packs and supplies that she had gotten out of the tack room onto Mangle. Then, mounting Cloud, she grabbed Mangle's reins and took off out of the stable at a gallop.

After two of hard riding Mangle was beginning to pull at the end of his reins, even though Cloud kept running hard. Daine realized how much it must stress the pony to not hear her. Now that she came to think of it, all of the animals were acting nervous and skittish. Like they did when there was a predator about. She felt sorry for them having to mentally suffer because of her. She stopped at a cave that her and Numair always used when leaving Tortall and heading north. There she made camp. At first she considered choosing a different site since Numair would know where to find her, but she knew that she really wanted him to find her. She only ran because she was scared.

After an hour Alanna noticed that Daine had disappeared and no one had seen her. Sending Onua to the bath houses she went to the stables to check for her. Numair had gone to her rooms and the king had told all of his guards to look for her. They all knew that she was taking her situation hard. Numair had dealt with being completely drained of magic before when he had overworked himself. He had been a bit antsy, but been able to deal with it because it was only a part of him. To Daine, however, her magic was her whole life.

When Alanna got to the stables she saw fresh hoof prints and found both Cloud and Mangle to be gone along with enough rations for two people to survive for a month. Alanna began to chant no to herself as she sprinted back into the castle. She burst into the king's study and panted,

"She's gone. Daine. She's gone." Numair grabbed her shoulders and lifted her off the ground so she was almost eyelevel with him.

"What?" he asked frantically.

"At the stable, Cloud and Mangle were gone. There were rations gone too. Numair she left, she went to go to Snowsdale." Numair swore and put the knight down gently, mumbling an apology. She forgave him, he had just found out his love had run away. Numair turned suddenly to the king.

"I must go. I know where she'll be." The king shook his head.

"No Numair," he said, "I cannot allow you to go tonight. Tomorrow you can leave with a company of the King's Own. You have no magic so I must insist upon this."

"Then I shall run away to." The dark mage said with a fierce seriousness in his voice. "And I refuse to leave with a company of the Own."

"Fine then," the King lowered his voice so that it matched the strength of Numair's, "I shall lock you in a detainment cell until you agree to my terms. A company of the Own will be sent out in the morning, with or without you." With that he called in his guards to take Numair to a cell. The king silenced Alanna with a look that threatened the same to her if she tried anything. He could not risk the passions of his two best mages killing them. Not only that but he could not ask his soldiers to leave in the middle of the night in the middle if bandit season. In time Numair would come to understand this, he must.

Numair cried as he sat in his cell. What must Daine think of him for not coming after her right away? He understood the reasoning of the king, but he also understood the passions of a woman's heart. He also knew that his own heart was breaking in two at the thought of Daine being alone and in the cold tonight.

Daine sat at the mouth of the cave all night, never sleeping. She was waiting for Numair. When the sun peaked over the horizon she heard the sounds of a company of soldiers marching. She grabbed her things and set off again, at the same breakneck pace. At first she ran to feel free, now she ran in anger. Numair didn't come for her. He would have some worthy reason why, of course, but that didn't matter. No one had come for her until the entire night had passed. She could hear the voiced of the meanest Rider trainees the first year she was there, telling her that soon they would tire of her. That seemed to be coming true. Now that she had no magic, no one rushed to save her. It occurred to her then that she really had no home.

**A/N: HAHAHAH another chapter done! Please please please review. I don't care if they are flames, anything helps!**

**Klutzyspaz: why thank you!**

**BlackandWhitechan: hahah I love ur stories too! YAY UPDATING!**

**i-luv-the-cat-sohma52: thanks**

**goldeneyedwildmage: don't worry, it will…eventually muahhahahahhaha**

**NealsChick: hahaha I know what you mean**


	5. I've Come to Talk With You Again

**A/N: Ok so since I fail at updating I hope you like my new chapter. And sorry for sucking again.**

A bright sun timidly crept over the horizon. It was one of the brightest of the year, as it was nearing the hottest part of summer. Even thought the sun was so great, its rays barely slid through the cracks in Numair's cell. He sat on the old cot, thinking about Daine and how much she must hate him now. He could practically see the wall in front of him glowing with the thought of her anger. As he sat and moped he realized that the wall actually was glowing. Standing and leaning close to the wall, he saw ribbons of purple fire in the wall's interior. Thinking quickly he jumped back just in time. When the dust began to settle Numair saw Alanna standing amidst the rubble looking rather peeved.

"I see someone hasn't had their coffee this morning." Numair stated, relying on the jovial feud between him and Alanna to serve as the thanks he knew not how to express. She half smiled then walked off. The lanky mage had to jog to keep up with the fiery redhead.

"You have to find her. I know her, if you don't find her today she may never forgive you. Jon's troops just left, that's why I was able to get you. Go west. I'm sorry but I have to go now." Alanna turned and just left. After the few moments passed that it took Numair to realize what had just happened, he too left toward the direction Daine had run. His long legs carried him as fast as he could go on a horse and still stay on. Running he looked to the animals to see how they were doing. They all were nervous and fidgety. That meant that they must be able to sense Daine still. Even if she was drained of all power, she was still god born so they should be able to sense her presence at least.

After a few minutes Numair realized that the animals were returning to normal. That meant that Daine was no longer in range. He knew her range to be close to ten miles. Seeing a palace horse in a nearby field he said his prayers and grabbed the bridle that was kept on the fence in case a horse got loose. Holding on tight he pushed the horse into a flat run, a speed he had never even thought about trying before now. He was surprised to find it easier to sit than a trot. Eyes focused ahead, Numair raced on in search of his love.

Daine kept pushing Cloud until she had to move to Mangle. Still she had no idea where she was running to, but it didn't matter she had to run. Stopping only to rest and water the horses, Daine kept up the same pace for a full week. At the end of the week she realized just how cold it was, and that she hadn't eaten a real mean in a week. Stopping, she made camp and went out hunting. As she fashioned a sling out of some of the supplies she had she thought about what had happened. It was then she realized that she was running from Numair. She didn't want him to come and try and apologize. But that brought up the question of why she ran in the first place.

A noise pulled Daine out of her ponderings. Taking aim she launched a rock at the large creature that seemed to be trying to sneak up on her. The strange thing was, she felt no fear at all, just a cold finality in her heart. As she went to see what she had hit, the movement had stopped, a large warhorse exploded out of the woods in front of her. It stopped before her and stared. It was a gelding she had healed last year when he had fallen in a ditch. As she looked in awe at the palace horse in front of her she saw what she had hit. A large dark mass lay in the woods a few feet back.

Rushing over she saw that it was Numair. Fear overtook her as she looked to see if he was still alive. He was, but thoroughly unconscious. There was a large red spot on his forehead from where her rock had hit. As she held his head in her lap and looked at the growing bruise, his eyes shot open.

"Daine." Was all Numair could say before Daine had slapped him and stalked off. He stumbled and fell trying to get up and get to her. As he reached her and her camp she turned on him violently.

"How could you!" Daine screamed at him. "I sat in a cave all night waiting for you, waiting for the feeling of your arms around me so that I could feel just a little better but you never came!"

"Daine, I was in a jail cell." Numair whispered.

"What?"

"Jon said I was not to go after you because its bandit season and he didn't want to loose his two best mages at the same time. Magelet, why did you run?"

"I don't know. I guess that I was scared because I had no magic, and I guess I just wanted to know that I wasn't valued on my powers alone. My worst fears were realized though."

"Oh Daine, baby please let me explain what happened."

"No." With that she turned and walked into the forest. After two minutes passed Numair began to worry and went in after her. What he found was a very angry mountain man with his blade to Daine's throat smiling at him maliciously.

"Good, I've been waiting for you master mage. Come with me." He said, and led the two of them deep into the forest.

**A/N: Ok maybe ill actually be a worthy author and update soon. REVIEW PlEASE.**


	6. In Restless Dreams I've Walked Alone

Numair would have singed the bandit's tail if he had been able to. After about an hour of separation, they tied Numair and Daine onto the same lead. This gave him the opportunity he needed.

"Daine, please don't hate me." He said sheepishly, looking at the ground. Daine looked at him and saw the fear in his eyes. All her anger seemed to melt away. She shook her head and restored her resolve.

"I don't hate you, I just feel betrayed."

"How? There was nothing I could do. Jon had me locked up and Alanna had to free me this morning. Was I supposed to just somehow get past the ten guards that were leading me to the cell without any magic?"

"No. Numair it's just—" she sighed. He couldn't understand how she felt. The pain was incurable. Nothing, literally nothing, could erase the loss she felt when he didn't come for her. Part of her was saying that he had tried but couldn't come. It was also saying that she only ran because she felt alone and wanted to be reminded that people cared about her. All of her was realizing that it was her fault that bandits now had them captured.

"Um, Numair? I'm sorry I got us captured by bandits." The tall mage chuckled

"It's O.K. magelet. It wasn't your fault. Does this mean you forgive me?"

"No, but I wont hit you again." Numair sighed inwardly; at least she wasn't resorting to violence still. He had a bruise on his forehead and a raw cheek because of her. Coming to his senses he realized that not only did he need to focus his attentions on the matter at hand, but also realized that they had reached the bandit camp.

They were separated again and taken into two different tents. Numair had been captured before and knew it was best to cooperate at first to gain their trust. They sat him down and gave him water and bread. Quickly they untied him and told him that if he spoke, the two guards out front would kill him. Quietly he picked up the cup and waved his hand over it to check for poison. When nothing happened he remembered that he was still sans magic. Sighing he began to eat.

Daine's treatment was no different. The only difference was that the men let their hands "accidentally" slide over her breasts as they untied her. Normally she would turn into a wolf and bite their testicles off; however, she had to let it slide at the moment. After they had drank most of the water they began to feel the tingling sensation that goes along with water based sedatives. Accepting their fate both fell into a restless sleep.

Daine was the first to dream. She saw the badger. He was standing at the foot of her bed and looking at her intently. She tried to speak but couldn't, she tried to scream but only silence. That was all there was, silence. The badger shook his head and put a paw up to his ear to signify that he couldn't hear her. Daine began to cry; as the tears raked her body the badger crawled up to her and leaned into her. Just as she woke up she heard his voice in her mind saying "kit". She sat up off the flood, sweat soaked. She had heard him, it was only a second but he was there. She still felt no magic within herself. Before she could still hear him, it seemed that things were getting worse. However, there was hope.

Numair had trouble going to sleep because thoughts of Daine clouded his mind. When he finally fell asleep he saw his mother and father. They would still be in Carthak. Sometimes he missed them, but he also realized that they had thought him dead since he first left for Tortall. As he saw them, he saw a black smoke rising up behind them. It had the silver specks that indicated the magic as his own. Panicking he tried to draw it back before it totally swallowed them. He had no affect on it. Then the black cloud engulfed Daine. Just before he woke a fragment of his magic left her under his command. Gasping for air he sat up and thought about the final event in his dream. He could still sense no magic, but somehow he still felt hopeful.

In the distant forest Cloud and Mangle grazed near Daine's abandoned campsite. Cloud was too scared to leave it and Mangle only followed her. Kitten and the great basilisk were on the move; both knew that something was up so they had turned back towards the castle. Alanna was only ten feet away from the abandoned campsite of Daine, but just missed it. Dark hands began to dip and play in the pools of shining copper and silver laced black.

**A/N: Its been forever and its short I know, but im gonna get back on this and finish it I promise. **


	7. Narrow Streets of Cobblestone

**AN: Well after….a really, really, really, long time….I'm back in the game and writing again. I had to read everything that I wrote to remember the plot I had created. In doing so I realized just how many grammatical errors I made. Sorry about that. Also I'm sorry for the randomly bad writing in earlier chapters. Hopefully I can amend those errors in this and future chapters. **

Narrow Streets of Cobblestone

They travelled for hours, days, weeks. It all seemed to blend together under the influence of the mild sedatives that were ever present in Daine and Numair's water sources. They caught random and fleeting glances of one another, but for the most part their only recollection of the time was the green and brown bobbing masses of the forest as they passed it by. It was after this unknown amount of time that Daine woke feeling fully in control of her thoughts. Normally the sedatives had not fully worn off when she woke so she did not have the presence of mind to think to not drink the water provided. This morning, however, she was clear-headed.

Looking to the water and bread lay at the foot of her bed-roll; Daine only grimaced and kicked them away. Suddenly a greasy face pushed its way into her tent.

"It's clean today" The mountain man told her.

"What?" She asked, taken aback by his sudden presence and words.

"Your food and water. There ain't any drugs in 'em today. We finally made it to town so there ain't any more need of keeping you loopy." He grinned lasciviously. Daine only shuddered at the thoughts of what was done to her when she was loopy. Just as suddenly as he arrived, the man disappeared from the entrance to her tent. After allowing a few minutes to gather her thoughts, Daine stood and left the tent, wholly unsure of what she would find.

Of all the things she mentally prepared herself for finding (from a ransacked Corus to a dead Numair), what she found was perhaps as far from them as was possible. She was greeted by the sight of the town square of Snowsdale. The only difference was that the square was empty save for the greasy and burly mountain men that had been her and Numair's captors. Then it hit her, Numair, was he here too? Looking around she audibly sighed in relief when she saw an inordinately tall figure walking towards the group, rubbing his head as he always did when waking from a deep sleep. She smiled. Daine may have hated him for not coming for her, and hated him for not being able to fix this magic problem like he always had in the past, but somehow through all that, she still loved him with an undying passion.

Numair saw Daine up ahead where the mountain men had told her she was. She was smiling at him. It did his heart good to know that even if she was angry with the passion that only the friends of the Lioness seemed to poses, she still loved him. Striding up to her, she turned her head back to the square.

"Did they keep you drugged as well?" Numair asked without looking away from the town square where his gaze now lingered as well.

"Yep…all I really remember is a lot of green, and some brown." She replied, trying to reason why they were in her home town. Numair smiled at her wit even in this stressful circumstance.

"So do you have any idea where we are Magelet?"

"I know exactly where we are, my love" At this Numair turned to stare at Daine who still gazed into the square with desperation in her eyes. "We're in Snowsdale"

"Snowsdale?! Your home town?" Numair was staring at her with his mouth agape.

"Regrettably, yes."

"But that's good isn't it. This is where you were heading when you ra—" Numair's sentence was cut short by Daine turning to him and clasping her hand over his mouth with wide eyes.

"Numair! I don't think it's necessary that you share EVERYTHING with our current captors now is it?" Numair's eyes grew wide as he seemed to suddenly remember they were still in custody. Thankfully, he noted, the mountain men seemed dull and reacted to the situation as merely a lovers spat instead of what it was, an accidental divulgence of relevant information.

Suddenly the air changed. All the men around them stood taller and looked towards the door on the far side of the square that had just opened. Daine released Numair and turned to look as well. The door to what was always the mayor's house now stood open and in the empty space stood a stout and well dressed man wearing the regalia of the mayor of Snowsdale. Slowly he stepped forward towards the prisoners.

"Daine Sarrasri. It was so many years ago that you lived here, was it not?" He spoke with a voice that sounded much more handsome that he was. Daine did not speak, so he continued. "I remember when you would come into town with your mother. You always had such a sharp tongue on you. Is that still true?" Daine still did not answer. "Or maybe I should be asking this man here, it's Numair isn't it?" Numair took Daine's lead and did not speak either. "They tell me you are her lover. You must be a strong man because the Daine I remember was not one to be the supplicant woman. If I remember properly I was rewarded with a knee to the groin when I decided to grant her, her first kiss." With that he smiled knavishly and patted Daine's cheek.

She remembered him. She had remembered him as soon as he had stepped out of the shadows of the mayor's house. Under years and layers of fat was the young man named Herman Jevers. He was seven years older than her and fancied himself quite the rake when she knew him. Back then he was handsome, and meaner than a bee with no wings. It seemed like only his looks had changed.

"Don't worry Herman. I remember you. There is no need to keep embarrassing yourself in front of your men by telling them of the times that I left you crying in pain because you refused to know your boundaries." Daine let her wit make him stutter and make his men chortle at the thought of the girl in front of them besting their leader. Herman grew red with anger, which he released by bringing the back of his hand harshly across her face. Numair began to throw himself on the portly man, when he felt Daine's hand on his arm. Still holding her aching face, she had reached out to stop him. She knew Herman in his youth longed for people to give him an excuse to resort to violence, and did not want Numair to give him one.

"There," Herman began, pulling on his jacket to straighten it, "now that YOU know your boundaries, I think it's the right time to tell you why you are here. You are here Daine "The Wildmage" Sarrasri to answer for the crimes you committed on this town when not in control of your powers." Numair spoke up, enraged.

"You can't do that," the mage began, "even at the universities in Tortall and Carthak the students and young ones aren't blamed for the mistakes they make when learning. By law it is considered to be out of their control!"

"Well Master Mage, I hate to break this to you, but in Galla there is no such law." Herman smiled as he told this to the taller man. Numair visibly sank. "Now, my men are going to put these bracelets on you both. They are spelled to leave you stunned and incapacitated if you go past a certain distance from myself. Now seeing as I am such a benevolent man I've set the distance long enough that you may visit your childhood home, or what's left of it. I will need both of you to stay in the city, however, until the proceedings are finished. I can promise you, my dear Daine that you will be treated well while on trial…after however, is up to the jury." He smiled and turned to leave. Daine suddenly spoke up with tears in her voice and eyes.

"Wait. What about Numair. Let him go but keep me. Just let him go he is not on trial."

"And let him tell all your new Tortallian friends?" Herman asked half-turning back to Daine. "Anyways, he is your teacher and therefore indirectly responsible as well…no he will stay as well." Before Daine could ask anything else, Herman fled back into the house and the mountain men forced bracelets onto the wrists of herself and Numair, all the while telling them of the horrors that would happen to them if they tried to remove the bracelets or went too far away. And then, they all left. Some went into nearby houses, but many just went back into the woods. None of them were men Daine remembered from her childhood.

Taking Numair's hand Daine began to lead him towards the inn. "Come on Numair, we need to get rooms and new clothes if they have them."

"Daine wait" Numair stopped. "You can't just accept this. There has to be something we can do?" Daine looked up at him with wet eyes and spoke in a voice so soft that no passerby had hope of hearing her words.

"Without our magic we have no hope of fighting this. All we can do is cooperate and hope that I interpreted the Badger's words correctly. Hope that somehow the answer to our magical problems is in this village." Numair brushed a stray curl out of her eyes and kissed her softly. As he did so he realized how many days and weeks had passed since he had enjoyed the feeling of her kiss. Normal couples spent the first weeks and months of their relationships getting to know one another and breaking down the awkward walls of new love. This step in their relationship, it seemed, would have to wait because they moved from just discovering their feelings for one another, to relying solely on the other for both sanity and companionship.

The two walked to the inn. Once there Daine spoke to Gertrude, the same old woman who ran the inn when she was younger. Gertrude was expecting them and showed them to a single room saying, "Our Lord Mayor said you was adulterating outside of the bounds of matrimony and that you was not to be allowed the dignity of separate rooms." From her words Daine could tell Gertrude had not forgiven her for maiming and permanently scaring her oldest son who had helped to hunt Daine. Inside the room were clothes. Once again Gertrude had something to say about them. She said, "I set out some men's clothes, though they might not fit such an abnormal man as you. I'll have one of the maids try to find some that will work. And for you lass I laid out skirts. I didn't know you had taken to wearing men's clothes but I tell you now, you'll wear the skirts. If you sleep here I'll at least try to make you civilized again."

Daine had been forced to hold back a laugh at the notion of this place being more civilized than home. Still she held her tongue and went into the room silently with Numair to wait for food and baths to be brought to them. Nearby, in the woods, the pools of their magic were being dipped up and put into bowls. The sparkling liquid of their individual powers rested heavily in the ornate silver bowls that were stamped with the seal of the Mayor of Snowsdale.

**AN: OH NO!!! What will happen next!! Oh wait…I already know, it's you who is supposed to be saying that. **


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